Stocks in Europe regained some lost ground on Thursday as investors eyed a dovish outlook on top of an expected European Central Bank interest rate cut during the day, while parsing a largely upbeat set of corporate earnings.
The STOXX 600 index gained 0.1%, following a two-day decline.
Finnish bank Nordea NDAFI.HE rose 5.5%, supporting a more than 1% rise in the bank index .SX7E, after raising its forecast and announcing a new share buybackprogramme.
The lenders’ index, which has been among the biggest beneficiaries of historically high interest rates, was the day’s top sectoral gainer.
The European Central Bank is expected to cut interest rates by another 25 basis points today, following a similar cut in September.
Source: Qatar News Agency